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back road

back road

18 3.1
A small quiet road used to avoid traffic and reach local homes
  • noun
  • /bæk roʊd/
translation icon : camino secundario
  • She always prefers the back road when visiting her grandmother's house for a quieter drive.

So we did that and we were able to get a ton, a ton of shots on back roads, on regular roads.

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Examples

  • Take the back roads, don't forget.

  • There was no traffic on these back roads at this hour.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • We're on a back road going three miles per hour.

  • We'll cut through the back roads.

  • Is there a back road I can take?

  • "We could do the back roads, so you could drive, and I could just sit back and relax."

    Fiction book (1992)
  • I have been traveling these back roads for weeks now.

  • You go that way, there's a back road.

  • Then he took me down all kinds of back roads, and we ended up at the Freeland farm.

  • We have a great mix of paved and uncrowded back roads, rolling hills, flats, and steep hills.

    Blog text (25)

Synonyms

backstreet
vsback road
9 2.6

A small quiet street away from the main roads in a town or city

is a nonurban quiet road often used to avoid traffic
byway
vsback road
9 7.4

A small quiet road in the countryside that people do not use often

is a small quiet road used for local travel or to avoid traffic
side road
vsback road
7 1.7

A small road that turns off a main road

is a small quiet route chosen to avoid traffic or for local use
back street
vsback road
5 3.3

A narrow street behind main streets that few people use

is a wider local road used to bypass busy main roads
local road
vsback road
3 1.6

A street that mainly lets people reach nearby homes and shops rather than pass through

is more about being a quiet alternative route than property access
local street
vsback road
  • Specialized
1 1.5

A street that gives direct access to houses with little through traffic

is used more as a quiet route to avoid busy roads
byroad
vsback road
  • UK
7.7

A small quiet side road in the countryside

is a general quiet route often used to avoid traffic
bypath
vsback road
  • Archaic
7.5

A small quiet path in the countryside that few people use

is a road for local access and for avoiding busy routes

Antonyms

35 1.1

A big road that carries most traffic and connects towns

How Busy

highway
629 1.0
main road
35 1.1
lane
405 1.0
back road
18 3.1
alley
349 1.0

Surface Forms

back road singular
back roads plural

Morphology

back + road

The primary meaning 'a rural or out-of-the-way road' follows straightforwardly from combining 'back' (at the rear/less prominent) with 'road' (a path for vehicles): a road away from main routes. Although the secondary figurative sense of 'unsophisticated' is metaphorical, the locational/compositional meaning is clear and would be recoverable by a B1 learner who knows both words.

Etymology

Back road The noun back road comes from small roads at the back of towns—the quiet road people used to avoid busy streets. That's why back road now means 'a small, quiet road' you use to avoid traffic.